The Mad Man I Saw

Once I was walking home after my class.

I saw a man who was mentally ill, muttering something, walking opposite to me. He was crippled and harmless.

Fear started crawling down my spine. I knew he won't harm me yet scary thoughts fluttered around in my mind, making my hands sweat, profusely.

Clenching my fist, I walked with firm steps, faking my braveness! I..Am…I mean..I…Was...Brave….

Our distance reduced and my fear was enlarged enough to engulf me. He came to me. Stood in front of me. My way was blocked.

My heartbeats resembled a drum, playing profoundly, producing a symphony of a scream which was jailed by my adrenaline hormone, rushing through nerves like an ambulance, to make me sprint! Alert! Danger!

My feet were frozen. All those speeches to face the problem, evaporated into thin air, condensed and rained down, washing away my fake bravery!

To my surprise, he laughed at me with all his heart and then continued walking. “What a stupid, kid”, he might have thought.

I was taken aback by his gesture. Turned my head to ensure that he had walked far, I sprinted towards home, opened the door and shut it loudly, panting heavily.

He was a successful student once but became mentally ill at some point in his life.

Now he has become a burden to his family. He never harmed anyone but was lost in his own sane world with an unchained mind, wandering around.

He was left alone. I can sympathize for him but deep down in my heart, I can feel the tremor of being alone.

In fact, everybody is alone, some embrace their solitude while standing in the crowd, some keep quiet, some scream, yet nobody acknowledges it.

Why? Because bleeding souls are invisible!!

Everybody's lives flow with the time, just like machines, forgetting to live and starts existing, being a prisoner of fate!